Ken Bernstein is a fourth-degree black belt of Kyokushin karate and therapist with a certification in psychoanalysis. Bernstein believes that while not immediately striking any similarity, psychotherapy and martial arts “delve into the science of mind, body, and spirit”.
Bernstein has worked with several at-risk youth, and has found that a combination of martial arts and psychotherapy has proven helpful with behavioral problems.
In coming to grips with the world, troubled youth can become overwhelmed by a sense of being too small in a giant, out-of-control world, he said. Acting out can be a way to seize control of their environment, but it often leads to problems at home and at school, and trouble down the road in teen and adult life.
“Our culture has such an upsurge in what is seen as learning and behavioral issues, autistic disorders. I think my model does help kids with these kinds of disorders,” said Bernstein, a resident since 1997. “I have continued to see in my practice kids who have Asperger’s disorder, autism, who can’t … sit across a desk and talk to somebody and tell them what’s going on,” said Bernstein. “Whatever is giving rise to (this) difficulty in self-regulation, impulsivity, being demanding, eludes any easy nosology. Parents are lost, they don’t know what to do.”
For several years now, Springfield’s Child Guidance Clinic has been enlisting Bernstein’s clinical and martial art expertise in their approaches to work with troubled children from ages 8-11. He would use martial arts classes as a way to give the children a group where they could share their home and school experiences. As the kids became more comfortable within the group, they often would help the newer students with learning the martial art techniques and grow from that experience.
“[…]Sitting and meditating, doing as little stretching, and teaching them some basic technique, segued to a group process, where I facilitated kids speaking about why they understood they were brought in, and how things were going at home and at school.”
In the group, Bernstein said, the kids would open up, often with the more experienced children helping newer kids with what they were learning. In doing so, they were able to hear from each other what they wouldn’t or couldn’t from their parents.
Bernstein, now working with a young child with impulse-control issues, teaches karate in hopes to funnel his aggression and controlling behavior into something more productive.
Aggression need not be a negative, said Bernstein. To him, it’s nothing more than another form of energy. He said embracing aggression and gently moving it along in a productive way leads children to have happier, more successful lives.
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